Facebook recently introduced Beacon, software that tracks data about Facebook users when they are shopping on certain external sites and shares that information with their Facebook friends as well as advertisers (See Computer World Article). Beacon has been controversial, as many believe Facebook provided misinformation. They failed to disclose  that in addition to Facebook members, all users of the other sites were being tracked. Facebook has since allowed users to turn-off the feature.

A recent ComputerWorld OpEd points out the good that came from this: public awareness of the sophisticated activity tracking software already in use. Having worked in online advertising, there is pressure to grow online revenue by providing the most segmented and logical user-paths possible. It is a competitive advantage for retailers and ad spenders (whose next spend depends on performance of recent campaigns).

So what’s to do? Ironically the information that is typically the least useful is what is most private: name, address, kid’s names, etc. The biggest indicators of future performance are the ‘RFM’, recency, frequency, monetary variables. How online advertising is able to bridge this current divide and harness the software is an ethical question that will shape the direction of the Internet. Hopefully, a middle ground is reached where users can have some privacy, while sensible software tracking allows for targeted advertising.

A recent ABC article, “You’re Being Watched Right Now” summarizes just how powerful online surveillance will be in the very near future. Fascinating and Scary!